The next tradition was Erabitori is basically trying to see what kind of future career I will pursue. Personally, I think it is too early too choose. Afterall, I just turned one. I have about twenty more years before I have to make this decision. But this is tradition, so I went along with it. Usually, actual items representing different careers or fields are laid out for the baby to choose. But some of those objects could be dangerous and others would have an unfair advantage. I mean, if you put a banana among any other objects I’m going to choose the banana, but that does not mean I want to be a banana farmer. So, recently, a lot of families use cards with pictures on them.
One of the big problems was that we segued right into erabitori from isshou mochi, so I still had the backpack of mochi on. However, part of isshou mochi is to see if the baby can crawl with the weight. It is a traditional indication of how quickly the babies leave the nest. I was able to crawl, but instead of leaving the nest I crawled desperately to be near Mommy (especially to get her to take the backpack off). Daddy later commented that it looked like a dramatic scene of a wounded soldier in a war movie. Perhaps in slow motion and with the right music it could achieve that level of intense drama. Right now it is just a crying baby trying to get to his mommy.
Everyone tried to tell me and show me what I was supposed to do, but I just wasn’t into it. I thought it was a lot more entertaining to watch all these grownups do everything they could to get me to pick up some cards. Grownups act so funny around kids.
Later, I made my way over to my choices on my own volition and started to make my choices. Since it is so early I really couldn’t land on a single choice so I just picked up the ones that I had an interest in. I chose seven!
My seven choices in order of my choosing were careers related to leadership, research, and art as my first three choices. Then doctor, technology/development, entrepreneur, and teacher. Coming from a family of teachers (Jiiji, Baaba, Grandma, Mommy and Daddy) everyone’s reaction to my last choice was wary pride. They all love teaching, but know that it is a tough career choice. Still, I have time to change my mind and see what really sparks my interest. But for now, at the age of one, these are my selections!
